Cold Brew – A 24 Hour experiment

Cold Brew – A 24 Hour experiment

Byrichard

I have been reading and watching videos about coffee brewing. In the process I kept seeing cold brew coffee come up again and again and it made me curious to try. 


When listening to podcasts about thru-hiking I heard people speak about cold soaking food, rather than cooking it. The idea is that you prepare your meal an hour or more ahead of the time you want to eat it, and you let water and time prepare the food for consumption. 


Preparation


For the cold brew experiment I carried out I ground down 40 grams of coffee coarsely before putting it into a french press. I had about 41 grams of coffee, ground up coarsely, to 250ml of water. 


I poured the cold water in and then stirred the water and grounds straight after pouring but also half an hour to an hour later. The grounds that had been floating became water logged and drifted to the bottom of the glass beaker and settled. 


The Wait – Initial taste


I left it in the fridge until the next morning, pushed the plunger down and then poured it into an insulated mug and tried some. It tasted bad. 


Dilute Rather Than Add Sugar


My first reaction was to put sugar in but experience has taught me that putting sugar in some coffee makes it worse, so I didn’t. I then read that you shouldn’t put sugar in cold brew coffee so I am happy not to have made that mistake. 


I diluted it with water. It tastes better. I left it to sit for another day. I am drinking the cold brew coffee as I write this post. The result is drinkable but I wouldn’t make a habit of drinking cold brew. 


It feels inefficient


Cold Brew coffee has two problems. The first is that it takes from 12-24 hours to prepare due to the long soaking time. The second reason is that you use 40 grams to make a single coffee. There are a number of conversations about how wasteful it is if you google “Cold Brew wasteful”. Usually I would make a coffee with 15-16 grams of coffee. 


I didn’t bother with specialist cold brew coffee, preferring just to use the coffee I had at home at the time. I could try again with dedicated cold brew coffee to see if the experience is better.


If I was to make it again I think I would try making cold brew coffee for Tiramisu. According to google this is a normal practice. 

Learning to Prepare an Americano In A Sigg Miracle

Learning to Prepare an Americano In A Sigg Miracle

Byrichard

I love drinking espresso and preparing them but there is one big drawback. You drink them within a single sip and the pleasure of drinking coffee is over to soon. That’s where a quick google search provides the answer. An Americano is either two nespresso capsules of coffee poured into a mug of boiling water, or 15 grams of coffee per 150ml of water in a Moka coffee maker.


Today I tried Option one. I boiled water in a kettle, eyeballed the appropriate amount of coffee and then put the Sigg miracle berry mug under the nespresso machine. It spilled onto the lip of the cup and onto the counter so I quickly held the mug in the right position. I lost a little espresso but it’s a mistake you make once, for a story to tell. The second shot went in without problems. I closed the lid, went for a short drive, and then took a sip. Oups, this tastes awful. I added a little sugar and then it was perfect. A coffee to go, prepared within a very short amount of time.


Perfect for a road trip or the commute to work, when we can drink in vehicles, at the end of this pandemic.


Plenty of people write about why they love the Camelbak tumblers because they keep the drinks warm for hours, but I am going to take the opposite tact. What I like about the Sigg Miracle Berry is that it keeps a hot drink for a theoretical hour, before cooling down. That is plenty of time to prepare the coffee, walk to a train station, and then sip it as you wait, without queuing at a café or coffee shop.


Conversely the form factor should make it possible to get hot chocolate and coffee from automatic machines. You can refill almost anywhere and because of its lid you can transport it, without fear of spilling. You can almost gesticulate whilst talking with it in hand, without worrying too much. If you gesticulate, make sure you haven’t just taken a sip, as some residual coffee may fly away.


I have both the 0.47ml and 0.27ml versions because whereas the small version is good for Café Lungo, and coffee, the larger one is good for hot chocolate and tea, although after hot chocolate I would dismantle the cap and remove any traces of residual milk. The same lid is used for both sizes, so you can swap them around if you need to, or replace a lid if needed.


I am choosing not to write about the pandemic at the moment. If we lived in a free society where liberal values, rather than populism, were prevalent, then I would write about the pandemic. It is important to document this moment in history, but when it is appropriate to do so.